Apparatus for cleaning ships&#39; bottoms.



I P. KLOEGK'INGI APPARATUS FOR GLEANING SHIPS BOTTOMS. APPLICATION FILED n11. 29,1907.

918,751 Patented Apr. 20, 1909.

WITNESSES:

A TTORNE Y;

rm: NORRIS Fish-ins no" WASHINGTON, u. c.

FRED KLOEOKING, OF THE GERMAN STEAMSHIP EVA.

APPARATUS non CLEANING SHIPS-BOTTOMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 20, 1909.

Application filed April 29, 1907. Serial No. 370,812.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, FRED KLOEOKING, a subject of the German Empire, residing on the German steamship Eva, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Cleaning Ships Bottoms, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved apparatus for cleaning ships bottoms.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a side view showing the apparatus in use on a ship; Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section of the apparatus proper; Fig. 3 is a cross section of the same.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates the hull of a ship to which the apparatus is applied. The frame 2 of said apparatus has its sides triangular in form and has vertical members 3. I

5 indicates a motor wheel which has curved blades 6, and on the shaft of said wheel is secured a gear wheel 7 meshing with a gear wheel 8, which in turn meshes with a gear wheel 9 secured on the shaft of a rotary brush 10. The shafts of said wheel 5,, gear wheel 8 and brush 10 have their bearings in the vertical members 3.

The front side of the frame is formed with a bulkhead 12 which extends down from the top of the frame into close proximity with the blades 6 to prevent the motion through the water turning the upper blades backward.

The apparatus is suspended from the sides of the ship by means of ropes 13 attached to the front and rear corners thereof, which ropes are in turn attached to ropes 14 suspended from said sides.

From the top of the frame extend upwardly stanchions 15 for carrying at their upper ends a roller 16 which rolls against the bottom of the hull, and thus prevents undue pressure between said hull bottom and the surface of the rotary brush.

The front end of the frame'is attached to ropes 17 which are'secured at their other ends to the bow of the ship. These ropes are let out as the apparatus moves rearwardly.

The following is the method of operating the device. The apparatus is let down in front of the bow of the ship and is thus brought underneath the ships bottom. It is then raised by means of the side ropes 14 so that the rotary brush comes into contact with the bottom of the hull. The vessel is then moved forward at a suitable speed, say, 5 or 6 knots an hour, whereupon the motion through the water, acting upon the lower blades of the motor, causes said motor to rotate, thereby imparting to the brush a rotary movement in the same direction as the motor. The action of the rotary brush against the bottom of the hull serves to remove the accumulation thereon.

If barnacles are to be removed the surface of the brush should be made of wire; if other substances, such as grass, it may be made of cane or the like. The bottom of the hull is cleaned from the front rearward, the brush being allowed to move to the rear, the ropes 17 being let out and the side ropes 14 being also moved rearward. In order to move the brush laterally across the bottom, either of said side ropes 14 may be letout and the other taken in. Thus the bottom of the ship may be cleaned in strips, either lateral, by first moving the brush transversely across the bottom so as to clean a strip thereof, and then letting the device move to the rear to take in another strip, or longitudinal, by first moving the device longitudinally and then shifting it laterally. In this manner the whole of the bottom of the hull can be cleaned.

Since the upper blades of the motor are protected from the action of the .water, as the motor moves therethrough, and because of the curved form of the blades of said motor, said motor is given a suflicient rotary velocity to rotate the brush to remove the accumulations from the bottom, and this velocity may be increased by increasing the speed of the ship.

In case the ship is made with side keelsons it is desirable to provide stanchions extending downwardly from the frame 2, to which stanchions the side ropes are attached, in order to enable the side rope to clear the keelsons.

I desire it to be understood that my invention is'not limited to the precise construction here shown, but I reserve the right to make suitable variations therefrom without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim An apparatus for cleaning ships bottoms comprising a frame having triangular sides, a motor wheel mounted between said sides and having curved blades, a pair of gear wheels mounted on the shaft of said wheel,

a second pair of gear wheels meshing with the former ropes i'or suspending the frame the first gear wheels, a rotary brush having l at the sides 01' the ship, and, ropes attached its shaft mounted between the sides of the i to the front end 01' the frame and extending frame, gear wheels on said brush meshing to the bow of the ship, substantially as dewith the second pair of gear wheels, a bulkscribed.

head in the front side 01' the frame, extend- In testimony whereof I have hereunto set ing from the top of the frame into close proxmy hand in the presence of two subscribing imity with the blades, stanchions extending witnesses.

upward from the top of the frame at the FRED KLOECKING. rear end thereof, a roller mounted on said W itnesses: stanehions, ropes attached to the front and C. L. HOWE, rear corners of the frame, ropes attached to I D. B. RICHARDS. 

